Computability of String Functions Over Algebraic Structures Armin Hemmerling

We present a model of computation for string functions over single-sorted, total algebraic structures and study some basic features of a general theory of computability within this framework. Our concept generalizes the Blum-Shub-Smale setting of computability over the reals and other rings. By dealing with strings of arbitrary length instead of tuples of fixed length, some suppositions of deeper results within former approaches to generalized recursion theory become superfluous. Moreover, this gives the basis for introducing computational complexity in a BSS-like manner. Relationships both to classical computability and to Friedman's concept of eds computability are established. Two kinds of nondeterminism as well as several variants of recognizability are investigated with respect to interdependencies on each other and on properties of the underlying structures. For structures of finite signatures, there are universal programs with the usual characteristics. For the general case of not necessarily finite signature, this subject will be studied in a separate, forthcoming paper.     

On the outcome of false images of linear <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-valued functions for composite numbers <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis> when the number of variables increases

The problem of constructing discrete functions such that parts of their value sets determine (generate) arbitrary linear functions is considered. A case in which k is a prime number was considered earlier by the author. It is proved that the existence of such partial functions wshen the number of independent variables is no less then two implies they exists for any arbitrary greater number of independent variables. Upper estimates linear with respect to the number of independent variables are proved for the size of the domain of universal functions. The existence of two-variable universal functions is proved for sufficiently large k.     

Investigations on the approximability and computability of the Hilbert transform with applications

It was recently shown that on a large class of important Banach spaces there exist no linear methods which are able to approximate the Hilbert transform from samples of the given function. This implies that there is no linear algorithm for calculating the Hilbert transform which can be implemented on a digital computer and which converges for all functions from the corresponding Banach spaces. The present paper develops a much more general framework which also includes non-linear approximation methods. All algorithms within this framework have only to satisfy an axiom which guarantees the computability of the algorithm based on given samples of the function. The paper investigates whether there exists an algorithm within this general framework which converges to the Hilbert transform for all functions in these Banach spaces. It is shown that non-linear methods give actually no improvement over linear methods. Moreover, the paper discusses some consequences regarding the Turing computability of the Hilbert transform and the existence of computational bases in Banach spaces.     

A link between combinatorial designs and three-weight linear codes

In this paper, we show that partial geometric designs can be constructed from certain three-weight linear codes, almost bent functions and ternary weakly regular bent functions. In particular, we show that existence of a family of partial geometric difference sets is equivalent to existence of a certain family of three-weight linear codes. We also provide a link between ternary weakly regular bent functions, three-weight linear codes and partial geometric difference sets.     

A Real Number Structure that is Effectively Categorical

On countable structures computability is usually introduced via numberings. For uncountable structures whose cardinality does not exceed the cardinality of the continuum the same can be done via representations. Which representations are appropriate for doing real number computations? We show that with respect to computable equivalence there is one and only one equivalence class of representations of the real numbers which make the basic operations and the infinitary normed limit operator computable. This characterizes the real numbers in terms of the theory of effective algebras or computable structures, and is reflected by observations made in real number computer arithmetic. Demanding computability of the normed limit operator turns out to be essential: the basic operations without the normed limit operator can be made computable by more than one class of representations. We also give further evidence for the well-known non-appropriateness of the representation to some base b by proving that strictly less functions are computable with respect to these representations than with respect to a standard representation of the real numbers. Furthermore we consider basic constructions of representations and the countable substructure consisting of the computable elements of a represented, possibly uncountable structure. For countable structures we compare effectivity with respect to a numbering and effectivity with respect to a representation. Special attention is paid to the countable structure of the computable real numbers.     

Conditional computability of real functions with respect to a class of operators

For any class of operators which transform unary total functions in the set of natural numbers into functions of the same kind, we define what it means for a real function to be uniformly computable or conditionally computable with respect to this class. These two computability notions are natural generalizations of certain notions introduced in a previous paper co-authored by Andreas Weiermann and in another previous paper by the same authors, respectively. Under certain weak assumptions about the class in question, we show that conditional computability is preserved by substitution, that all conditionally computable real functions are locally uniformly computable, and that the ones with compact domains are uniformly computable. The introduced notions have some similarity with the uniform computability and its non-uniform extension considered by Katrin Tent and Martin Ziegler, however, there are also essential differences between the conditional computability and the non-uniform computability in question.     

Implementations of special ordered sets in MP software

Special ordered sets (SOS) have been introduced as a practical device for efficiently handling special classes of nonconvex optimization problems. They are now implemented in most commercial codes for mathematical programming (MP software). The paper gives a survey of possible applications as multiple choice restrictions, conditional multiple choice restrictions, discrete variables, discontinuous variables and piecewise linear functions, global optimization of separable programming problems, alternative right-hand sides, overlapping special ordered sets and the solution of quadratic programming problems. Alternative problem formulations are discussed. Since special ordered sets are not defined uniquely modelling facilities depend on the definition of a special orderedset in a code. The paper demonstrates the superiority of SOS to the application of binary variables if they are treated judiciously.     

Effective Structures

The connection between some special properties of the computable functions in an abstract structure and the existence of a recursive and semi-recursive representation of the structure is studied. The considerations are based on the notion of computability on many-sorted abstract structures.     

Approximate decidability in euclidean spaces

We study concepts of decidability (recursivity) for subsets of Euclidean spaces ?^k within the framework of approximate computability (type two theory of effectivity). A new notion of approximate decidability is proposed and discussed in some detail. It is an effective variant of F. Hausdorff's concept of resolvable sets, and it modifies and generalizes notions of recursivity known from computable analysis, formerly used for open or closed sets only, to more general types of sets. Approximate decidability of sets can equivalently be expressed by computability of the characteristic functions by means of appropriately working oracle Turing machines. The notion fulfills some natural requirements and is hereditary under canonical embeddings of sets into spaces of higher dimensions. However, it is not closed under binary union or intersection of sets. We also show how the framework of resolvability and approximate decidability can be applied to investigate concepts of reducibility for subsets of Euclidean spaces.     

Polynomial differential equations compute all real computable functions on computable compact intervals

In the last decade, there have been several attempts to understand the relations between the many models of analog computation. Unfortunately, most models are not equivalent. Euler's Gamma function, which is computable according to computable analysis, but that cannot be generated by Shannon's General Purpose Analog Computer (GPAC), has often been used to argue that the GPAC is less powerful than digital computation. However, when computability with GPACs is not restricted to real-time generation of functions, it has been shown recently that Gamma becomes computable by a GPAC. Here we extend this result by showing that, in an appropriate framework, the GPAC and computable analysis are actually equivalent from the computability point of view, at least in compact intervals. Since GPACs are equivalent to systems of polynomial differential equations then we show that all real computable functions over compact intervals can be defined by such models.     

Birkhoff-functions that are bounded on prescribed sets

We prove the existence of entire functions which are universal under translations and bounded on certain prescribed sets. It is also shown that the family of all these universal functions is a dense but not a G_δ-subset in the space of entire functions provided with a natural metric. Received: 24 November 2004; revised: 12 April 2005     

Σ-Subsets of Natural Numbers

It is shown that the class of all possible families of -subsets of finite ordinals in admissible sets coincides with a class of all non-empty families closed under e-reducibility and . The construction presented has the property of being minimal under effective definability. Also, we describe the smallest (w.r.t. inclusion) classes of families of subsets of natural numbers, computable in hereditarily finite superstructures. A new series of examples is constructed in which admissible sets lack in universal -function. Furthermore, we show that some principles of classical computability theory (such as the existence of an infinite non-trivial enumerable subset, existence of an infinite computable subset, reduction principle, uniformization principle) are always satisfied for the classes of all -subsets of finite ordinals in admissible sets.     

Asymptotic behavior and oscillation of functional differential equations

Asymptotic relations between the solutions of a linear autonomous functional differential equation and the solutions of the corresponding perturbed equation are established. In the scalar case, it is shown that the existence of a nonoscillatory solution of the perturbed equation often implies the existence of a real eigenvalue of the limiting equation. The proofs are based on a recent Perron type theorem for functional differential equations.     

Fixed‐parameter decidability: Extending parameterized complexity analysis

We extend the reach of fixed‐parameter analysis by introducing classes of parameterized sets defined based on decidability instead of complexity. Known results in computability theory can be expressed in the language of fixed‐parameter analysis, making use of the landscape of these new classes. On the one hand this unifies results that would not otherwise show their kinship, while on the other it allows for further exchange of insights between complexity theory and computability theory. In the landscape of our fixed‐parameter decidability classes, we recover part of the classification of real numbers according to their computability. From this, using the structural properties of the landscape, we get a new proof of the existence of P ‐selective bi‐immune sets. Furthermore, we show that parameter values in parameterized sets in our uniformly fixed‐parameter decidability classes interact with both instance complexity and Kolmogorov complexity. By deriving a parameter based upper bound on instance complexity, we demonstrate how parameters convey a sense of randomness. Motivated by the instance complexity conjecture, we show that the upper bound on the instance complexity is infinitely often also an upper bound on the Kolmogorov complexity.     

Reductions,completeness and the hardness of approximability

In computability and in complexity theory reductions are widely used for mapping sets into sets in order to prove undecidability or hardness results. In the study of the approximate solvability of hard discrete optimization problems, suitable kinds of reductions, called approximation preserving reductions, can also be used to transfer from one problem to another either positive results (solution techniques) or negative results (non-approximability results). In this paper various kinds of approximation preserving reductions are surveyed and their properties discussed. The role of completeness under approximation preserving reductions is also analyzed and its relationship with hardness of approximability is explained.     

Solvability Criterion for the Constrained Discrete Lyapunov and Riccati Equations

Conditions for the solvability of the discrete Lyapunov and the discrete Riccati equations subject to linear equality constraints are derived. These problems arise naturally in the context of output min-max robust control. It is shown that the following problems are equivalent to one another: (a) the solvability of the constrained discrete Riccati equation; and (b) the existence of a feedback gain that guarantees the solvability of the constrained discrete Lyapunov equation of the resulting closed loop. A simple criterion for the existence of a solution to both problems is presented. These problems are shown to be related to the discrete positive real property.     

Constructions of projective linear codes by the intersection and difference of sets

Projective linear codes are a special class of linear codes whose dual codes have minimum distance at least 3. Projective linear codes with only a few weights are useful in authentication codes, secret sharing schemes, data storage systems and so on. In this paper, two constructions of q-ary linear codes are presented with defining sets given by the intersection and difference of two sets. These constructions produce several families of new projective two-weight or three-weight linear codes. As applications, our projective codes can be used to construct secret sharing schemes with interesting access structures, strongly regular graphs and association schemes with three classes.     

A combination of testability and decodability by tensor products

Ben‐Sasson and Sudan (RSA 2006) showed that taking the repeated tensor product of linear codes with very large distance results in codes that are locally testable. Due to the large distance requirement the associated tensor products could be applied only over sufficiently large fields. Then Meir (SICOMP 2009) used this result to present a combinatorial construction of locally testable codes with largest known rate. As a consequence, this construction was obtained over sufficiently large fields. In this paper we improve the result of Ben‐Sasson and Sudan and show that for any linear codes the associated tensor products are locally testable. Consequently, the construction of Meir can be taken over any field, including the binary field. Moreover, a combination of our result with the result of Spielman (IEEE IT, 1996) implies a construction of linear codes (over any field) that combine the following properties:

• have constant rate and constant relative distance;
• have blocklength n and are testable with n^? queries, for any constant ? > 0;
• linear time encodable and linear‐time decodable from a constant fraction of errors.

Furthermore, a combination of our result with the result of Guruswami et al. (STOC 2009) implies a similar corollary for list‐decodable codes. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 46, 572–598, 2015     

Computability of measurable sets via effective topologies

We investigate in the frame of TTE the computability of functions of the measurable sets from an infinite computable measure space such as the measure and the four kinds of set operations. We first present a series of undecidability and incomputability results about measurable sets. Then we construct several examples of computable topological spaces from the abstract infinite computable measure space, and analyze the computability of the considered functions via respectively each of the standard representations of the computable topological spaces constructed. The authors are supported by grants of NSFC and DFG.